I have been a self taught web and Mac OS X developer for several years. I know over ten individual programming languages fluently, so I need a development environment where I can worry about the work at hand rather than where my files are, and the Mac OS X application Coda by Panic delivers essentially what I have always wanted. A one window development environment that has SFTP/FTP file listing and editing, powerful CSS editor, helpful books for when I forget a function, and a Terminal for monitoring of my server while working.

For several years I did all my coding in Adobe Dreamweaver. While I did enjoy the editor itself, Dreamweaver constantly distracted me with panels and features I would never need or use. Essentially, it felt too bloated for me. So after several months of complaining Coda was finally suggested to me by Jeff, who is a good friend I code for, but at first I was reluctant to use it. My first experiences with it several months prior had not been pleasant, but I still gave it a chance, and the amazement that came over me when I saw all that I had missed was overwhelming.

One of the features I find most helpful is built in support for SFTP and FTP without leaving the application. Prior to Coda I used MacFusion to mount external SSH servers for easier file editing, but they were sometime sluggish and I would several times have to minimize the code I am editing to find a file. Very inconvenient, but Coda’s file list shows the content of my server right beside the code I’m editing so all I have to do is double click the file and then I’m looking right at it.

I would recommend Coda to any developer who is feeling jailed in by their development environment and want a system that just flows. Coda can be found at Panic’s website and costs $99 USD. While the price may be a little high, you get a lot out of it. If you are a developer who is a contractor or freelancer, the ease of it will pay for itself over time.

Edit: Coda is not just a PHP or HTML editor. It supports ActionScript, ASP, CFML, CSS, ERB, HTML, Java, Javascript, JSP, LassoScript, Perl, PHP, Python, Ruby, Smarty, SQL, XML, and more.